MEMBERS of the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) of the Davao City Police Office are hunting down the killer of a former Public Attorney's Office (PAO) lawyer in Lanang in Davao City last month.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte, in his television program “Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa” Sunday, said authorities have already identified the suspect in the killing of lawyer Emmanuel Ledesma Acuña Jr. at a bank's parking area in Lanang.
He added that authorities have a cartographic sketch of the suspect.
"Ang pulis nakahibalo na kung kinsa. In fact, the police is ready to file charges against this suspect. Ang problema dira ang pagdakop, unsaon kung nakasibat ning suspect, mayo unta tong pagbutoana-a ang police dira sa tungod, wala pa jud (The hard part is arresting the killer. What if he has already left. It would have been better had the police been around when the crime happened, but they weren’t)," Duterte said.
Duterte said the suspect is identified as a “hired killer”. He also said he cannot yet divulge the brains behind the killing, pending investigation.
Task Group Acuña head and Davao City Police Office (DCPO) director Senior Supt. Vicente D. Danao Jr. said the police have yet to identify the mastermind.
He added that Francis Gerald Ang, the businessman who was tagged in the killing of Acuña, had already appeared before them to deny involvement in the crime.
Initial investigations conducted by Sasa police headed by Senior Inspector Paulino Zaulga Jr. revealed that the testimony of another witness matched with the earlier statement of the first witness, the victim’s girlfriend.
According to the witnesses, the killer was wearing a white shirt then rode in a black pick-up vehicle which was parked nearby.
Danao earlier said that aside from the career of the victim, they are also investigating his love life because Acuna’s girlfriend had a boyfriend for 13 years before they became a couple.
PAO Davao regional director lawyer Francis Calatrava, in an interview with the SITG team, said the victim worked as PAO lawyer in Davao Oriental for almost two years and had not handled sensitive cases.
According to Calatrava, the victim resigned from PAO 11 because he wanted to take care of his parents and start a private practice while pursuing a real estate business. Calatrava also called on the police to solve the death of Acuña. (ICT)